Medical cannabis has been legal in New Mexico for 10 years now, and while advocates have made repeated efforts to legalize cannabis for social use, the opposing side continues to win the battle.

This year, Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, once again will attempt to put the issue on the election ballot for voters to decide if cannabis should be legal for social use in the state of New Mexico.

Ortiz y Pino wants to legalize social cannabis in New Mexico to prevent and eliminate criminal activity caused by cannabis-related offenses. He claims such offenses have damaged lives of youth and adults because of incarcerations, jobs lost, colleges and careers denied.

“We have damaged far more lives in this state by making marijuana illegal than marijuana use has ever damaged,” he said in an email to New Mexico In Depth.

“… Our national experience with prohibition of alcohol ought to teach us how to deal with marijuana: it is counter-productive to drive it underground, where it fosters enormous criminal activity, violence, shame and wasted effort,” he said.

California, after legalizing cannabis for social use, has already started efforts to reform its criminal justice program by reducing cannabis-related penalties and allowing individuals to get their previous cannabis-related offenses reduced, reclassified as lesser offenses, or dismissed completely.

While Sen. Ortiz y Pino says legalizing social cannabis will protect the lives of many, other advocates want to legalize cannabis to bring in the enormous revenue in sales states like Colorado and Washington are experiencing.

While 61 percent of Americans in New Mexico support legalization, according to an Albuquerque Journal poll conducted in October 2016 by Research & Polling Inc, not everyone is convinced the plant’s economic and medical advantages are enough to legalize it for adult use.

Representative Bill Rehm, says legalizing cannabis will bring its downsides, which outweigh the advantages.

Rehm gave examples of several negative consequences he’s heard of from administrators  and law enforcement officers in states where cannabis is legal for social use.

He said drug dealers are moving to states where cannabis is legal, growing cannabis legally, and trafficking it to other states.

The Legislative Sessions is about to begin, when we will find out if New Mexico will be the next state to legalize social cannabis.